A dozen witnesses assembled Thursday to testify in a court case between restaurant operator Eric Jurisin and the Town of Jerome. Jurisin filed for an injunction to end Jerome's closure of the second floor of the Haunted Hamburger.
The town complaint charged the restaurant had inadequate fire and safety protection in case of an emergency.
Attorneys for the town and Jurisin met with a mediator for five and a half hours during the two weeks that separated an initial appearance Jan. 3 and Thursday's evidentiary hearing before Superior Court Judge Ralph Hess. The two sides failed to resolve their dispute during that meeting and were asking Judge Hess to resolve it.
John Phillips, representing the Jurisins, quoted the Queen of Hearts in Alice and Wonderland, "sentence first, trial later," to describe the restaurant owner's viewpoint. But, he said, "In Jerome, you never get a trial."
With that, Phillips threw down the gauntlet, in what was expected to be a full-day hearing on the merits of the fire district's demands.
By afternoon, the attorneys were back at the table to thrash out a deal.
Phillips told the court the restaurant received "no specific notice of what needs to be done."
Phillips said Jurisin's reputation was tarnished by the town as a "do-nothing merchant" in terms of fire safety, and recited the history of the Haunted Hamburger second floor.
In 1993, the restaurant operator was told that he would need to make a couple of changes in order to seat more than nine customers upstairs. Those changes included roof repairs and the creation of a second fire escape. The town building inspector at the time, Michael Kamrar, also a carpenter, offered to design and build the second fire escape. And in 1994, the emergency exit was "designed, built and approved," he said.
In 2002, the town complained because the fire escape had been built through a bathroom that locked on the inside. Jurisin agreed to take out the bathroom.
Then in 2007, the restaurant started to hear that the town wanted changes again, this time "a four-story fire escape."
Phillips said that there was no notice, no chance for appeal, and no opportunity to talk with town officials when the police chief posted a closure notice. The attorney noted that even though the building code calls for a board of appeal on such town actions, the town has no such board to appeal to.
He was told he needed a steel fire escape, not one of wood and that the building needed fire sprinklers.
"You have to build a monstrosity at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars."
He appealed to Judge Hess for "rationality." "We want an order of this court to allow the business to re-open the second floor."
Jeff Murray, an attorney representing the town, corrected Phillips' "mis-statements."
"The posted notice only limited the second floor to nine people, and was not a full closure." He said, "It is not about 1993, 1994 and 2002 ... only about 2007"
"When the safety of the health of the public is concerned, there is no grandfathered use."
"We had given him a list of things to fix. If he had made an offer to build a stairway and install sprinklers, we would not be here today."
Former Town Clerk Al Palmieri and former Fire Chief Dave Hall testified for the restaurant.
Hall was fire chief at the time the second fire escape was built. He said he signed off on the construction but he realized later that it did not meet code.
He said he "would not be able to approve the fire escape if asked today."
When pressed, Hall said that he would not shut down the restaurant, but since it was a fire and safety issue, a solution would be needed soon.
The court took an hour and a half for lunch, but did not return till 2 p.m. At that time, Hess announced that the hearing would be continued until the following Thursday, since the attorneys wanted a chance to resume negotiations. The Judge suggested that the best solution would be one they created.
